Quality, But Also Quantity: Studio A Adds – 3/4/15

We got a lot this week in studio A, and a lot of good stuff at that. For starters, we have the new album from Icelandic art-pop queen Björk. The whole album is based on the break-up of Björk and her longtime partner, and as such features some brutally honest songwriting. The instrumentation is really beautiful on this as well.

In addition to that we have the debut EP from Sunflower Bean. If you missed these guys when they came to UConn, you definitely messed up. Every song on this EP is fantastic, with some great dreamy, noodly guitar riffs and reverb-drenched vocals paired with some wicked cool fuzzed out riffs here and there. This thing rips front to back.

Man oh man does thie EP rip. Every song is great. Definitely a lot of psych-rock/dream-pop goodness going on but they are not afraid to riff real heard. Really great female vox and occasional male accompaniment. RIYL: Tame Impala. Try every song!

Self-released

Yumi Zouma*

EP I And EP II

“Dream-disco”. Stellar, bright, shimmering synth-pop. Feels summery and fun for the most part, in the way of jumping into a pool at sunset. Overall, just brilliant pop music. RIYL: Tops, Washed Out. Play 1,3,5,6,7. FCC clean.

Cascine

Adventures*

Supersonic Home

90s alt rock with that classic Run For Cover emo-touch. Great, solid guitar-based instrumentals with odd, spirited vocals. Tiny, tiny bits of shoegaze. Vox are odd in the wat that they’re so plain? But alluring. RIYL: Run For Cover bands. FCC clean.

Run For Cover

The Dodos*

Individ

Awesome indie rock record with great guitar and drum work. Very energetic melodies and super catchy to boot. Highly recommended to any fan of the “indie rocks”. Play 4,3,2,7. FCC clean.

70s sounding Americana soul. A large production from his Virginian spacebomb house band full with horns, strings, and backup singers. Smooth, southern, slightly gospel. RIYL: Randy Newman. Try 4 and 10.

80s sounding new wave and pop rock. High falsetto vocals, but some alright melodies and solos. Play 1,4,5.

Slumberland

Will Butler

Policy

Not exactly what I expected. Kinda all over the place. Some songs sound like garage rock a la the Violent Femmes. Others just sound like bad Arcade Fire outtakes that didn’t quite make one of their earlier albums. Billed as “American rock” and some songs definitely give off a Dylan/The Band vibe. RIYL: Arcade Fire, The Band, Violent Femmes.

Merge

Mother Mother

Very Good Bad Thing

Has potential but I think they could work on their lyrics. There is a lot of synth which I liked and male/female vocals.

Def Jam

Tuxedo

Tuxedo

Very funky but all tracks sound the same. They have a good use of instruments (brass) but need to have more diverse sound between songs.

Misnomer, what sounds like a metal band is cute synth-pop. Very Chvrches or P. Ring. Too homogeneous and simple. Synths become draining half way through. Try 4. RIYL: High pitched synth pop.

Labrador Records

Tom Brousseau

Perfect Abandon

Acoustic folk singer-songwriter with a very old-fashioned approach to song-writing. Majority= vocals, guitar and light drumming. Great storytelling. Toughes of blues. Seems like the nicest dude. Play 2,5,7,8,9. FCC clean.

Crossbill

The Black Ryder

The Door Behind The Door

Long tracks of kaleidoscopid shoegaze/dream pop/rock. Wisps of female vocals echo through expansive soundscapes of dreamy feedback and acoustic guitar. Very enjoyable. Play 2,4,7,8. FCC clean.

The Anti-Machine Machine

The Pop Group

Citizen Zombie

First album from this band in 35 years! What?? Really really strange. Popst punk with dance punk, synth pop flair. A lot more accessible than their previous stuff. This is the shit college radio was built on! FCC 8

Freaks R Us

The Fraidies

Try Again

Poppy-rock, it’s not bad but I lost interest fast.

Self-released

Various Artists

Luxembourg Sounds Like…

Various genres, a neat little sample of music from the tiny country of Luxembourg. All english lyrics, some pretty good tunes here! Very radio friendly, a little something for everyone! Try 1,3,5,6,9,10. FCC clean.